A Fourth Book
by insaneschitsoid
Summary: OKIES! This WILL suck for a while until I stop renovating and get back into my zone, but it doesn't suck TOO horribly right now. sum inside. You wanna read it now, ne? Just for the record, I usually hate this pairing. Had to use it to be cannon-ish.


Me: Hello! It's me again. I'm making, obviously, an Avatar fic. I've had the urge to for like, ever. So, here she is! Oh, and it's my OC, sorry. She won't be paired with anyone, but she'll flirt for a little while(like, a paragraph). It's _kinda_ supposed to be written like a continuation of the series. It'll suck until I make changes, but I'm renovating and out of my zone, so, nya.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Fourth Book: Death

Chapter One: The Insulting Girl

"Aang, are you sure this is the way to that swamp of yours? We've been flying forever."

"Calm down, Toph. I'm sure Aang knows where he's going."

"She's got a point, Katara."

"Thank you Zuko."

"Don't mention it."

"Zuko, you can't honestly-"

"C'mon, guys. Let's not start arguing… again."

"Yeah, Suki's right. Let's just all take a deep breath and-"

"Oh put a sock in it, Lover Boy."

"Toph!"

Aang sighed at his place on Oppa's neck, holding the reigns with one hand and rubbing his temples with the other. Something up ahead caught his eye.

"There it is!"

Everyone stopped talking and all but Toph looked over to see.

"Wow." Zuko said, blinking a few times. "It's… big."

"Well, yeah, it _is _a swamp. See that big tree in the middle? That's the tree that started this swamp. It's the heart and soul."

"Wow, Aang," Toph said, her usual sarcastic tone taking root. "That's real deep."

"Oh you're just cranky because you can't see it. You will once we land, though."

"Katara's right. Just think Toph, one step and you'll be able to see the entire swamp!"

Toph took one moment to think and then turned a little green.

"I'll probably keel over from the overload."

Aang scratched his head sheepishly.

"Well, at least now you know what to expect."

Zuko decided to change the subject.

"So, Aang, you said earlier that this is where you first met Toph. If she's never been here before, how is that possible?"

"Well, I didn't _meet_ her here, I just had a vision of her. That's the power of the swamp."

"Power?" Zuko said, skepticism lacing through his voice. He barely registered that they had started flying over the edge of the swamp, heading towards the middle. "Aang, it's a swamp. You know, trees, water, grass? It's not alive, and it doesn't have 'powers'-Whoa!"

Oppa groaned as they were suddenly pulled towards the swamp, about half a mile away from their destination. Oh, and they crash-landed.

"Ugh… nice, Zuko, real nice. You just _had_ to anger the swamp. You just _had_ to!"

"Oh, shut up Sokka!"

"Where are we exactly?"

As they all looked around, Toph bent down and put her ear to the root she was standing on.

"… We're about an hour's walk away from the center."

Katara looked around, noticing that they had landed about where they had the last time they were here.

"This is where we split up last time."

Aang climbed onto a root.

"HELLOOO?!!"

Toph held her ears.

"Gees, twinkle-toes! Did you have to stand right next to me?!"

"Oops… heheh, sorry."

"So, Toph, which way?"

Toph gestured behind her with her thumb.

"That way. But, I got some weird vibrations from that root. It almost sounded like pained screaming… and then at the same time, it sounded like the person, a girl, was laughing loudly. It was… creepy."

"Well, I you've never listened to a tree root, so maybe that's what a swamp sounds like?" Aang suggested, coming down from Oppa's saddle after checking and securing their belongings.

"Maybe…"

"C'mon, the faster we get there, the faster we can meet up with our old friend again. I don't remember his name, really, but I know you guys will like to meet him."

Suki smiled. "I'm sure we will Aang. So, let's go!"

As they walked through the swamp, Toph traveling on tree roots, she couldn't help but be suspicious of the voice.

Zuko stopped and.

"Hey, do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what Zuko?" Suki asked.

"Yeah, I don't hear-" Sokka started before Zuko stopped him with a raised hand.

"Shh. Listen."

They all got quiet. There was no other sounds.

"Zuko, there's nothing to hear." Aang said.

"I could've sworn…"

"What did you hear?" Katara asked, looking cautiously at the trees and vines around them.

"Well, I'm not completely sure, but it sounded like a girl, about Toph's age, maybe younger. She was humming. It was soothing, but the melody set my senses on edge."

"Well, I didn't hear anything. Hey, do you think the swamp might be sending you visions?" Katara asked, looking around nervously.

"Yeah, when I had my vision of Toph, at first the only thing I heard was her laughter. I didn't actually _see_ her until I started following it."

"That might be it. No use thinking about it now, let's just head to the tree and see if we see or hear anything else. Keep your eyes and ears open."

When they started moving again, Aang started wondering if they would see anything else.

After about twenty minutes, Katara, at in the back, called for a stop. She was looking left and right behind her, frantically, and was holding her side.

"What's wrong Katara?" Aang asked, looking around as well.

She moved her hands for them to see. There was a long cut, from her chest to her waist. It wasn't deep, just enough to have started bleeding, but the length and the fact that there hadn't been any sound had them all on edge.

"Just now I heard someone, I knew it was a person, making a hissing noise. It almost sounded like someone saying 'I'm sorry', and when I turned to see who was there, my side hurt and there was this cut. It only stings now, but I don't think they wanted to hurt me, if there was even someone there. Now I think that the swamp _is_ trying to show or tell us something."

After bandaging Katara's side they decided to stay close in the group, now looking all around them. Sokka saw something white and red behind a tree in the corner of his eye as they were walking. He stopped and looked back, but didn't see it anymore.

"Hey guys, I think I saw someone." He went over to the tree and checked behind it. They all crowded behind him. "Hey, if you're gonna be this close could someone get me a light? It's dark back here."

They all heard the loud laugh of a girl from above them and they all looked up before jumping back as something small fell and splashed into the water. When it floated to the surface, it was round, and it was white.

Sokka took his boomerang and poked it, causing it to turn over.

"Oh my god!" Aang said, covering his eyes and turning away.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Suki groaned, covering her mouth and following Aang's example.

"What?! What is it?!" Toph asked, unable to see.

"It's a dead rat! I _giant_ dead rat!" Katara screamed.

"'Dead'?! It's _gutted_! It's not dead, it's been eaten!" Sokka cried.

Zuko went to kick it away, but his foot went right through it before the corpse disappeared.

"What the hell?"

"Guys, I think that was another vision." Sokka said. He squinted at the tree once again. "Zuko, could you use some firebending and hold it up to the tree? I think there's some writing scratched into it."

Zuko created a flame in his palm and held it up to the tree, finding out that there was something written there. He read it out loud.

_I'm sorry girl. It was the only way to make you know I'm real._

Katara suddenly heard that hissing noise again and looked around, trying to find it. She didn't see anyone, so she turned her attention back to Zuko.

"I think it means me." Katara said, catching their attention. "I just heard that voice again right after you read that."

"What did it say?" Aang asked, looking around.

"Nothing, really. It sounded like it was… just breathing loudly."

"Hey there's more down here."

They turned back to Zuko to see him holding his hand at just three feet above the water level. It looked like it had been either scribbled quickly or written by a little kid.

Zuko heard the humming again as they silently read it.

_Did you like my song mister?_

"Okay, now I'm positive. The swamp is telling us something and whatever that something is, it's out to get us!" Sokka said, waving his arms like it was the end of the world.

"Sokka, I don't think it's out to get us." Suki said, looking right above the childish handwriting.

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because of the words right above that last sentence." She replied, pointing.

Zuko raised the flame a little.

_Please. She needs your help. Please._

"So, they're trying to get our attention so we can help someone. Why couldn't they have just said so?"

There was a splash behind them right before Oppa groaned and Momo started screeching. They all turned to see a translucent girl with white hair, wearing an old-style, short, red kimono. Her hands had blood on them, and her eyes were hidden by her bangs.

She snapped her head up, her eyes almost like Aang's when he's in the Avatar state, only red. She screamed in obvious pain, before it suddenly became crazed laughter.

"That's what I heard from the root before!" Toph said, causing the others to become afraid.

To the group, it seemed almost like a replay of something that happened a long time ago, as the scenery quickly changed to the inside of the Northern(?) Air temple, Aang's home, though in a room they'd never seen before.

Suddenly her ankles were held to the floor with earthbending, and chained shackles wrapped around her wrists. They were pulled down, forcing her to bow, though she never stopped laughing.

Suddenly a man's voice came from no where, causing her to drop her head and stop laughing.

"_You insulting whore!"_

A man appeared. His clothes suggested that he was of fire nation origin, and he seemed to be the Avatar by the water and fire circling him, but it wasn't Roku.

"_I am the Avatar, and you… you dare to assault me in such a manner!? You dare to try and kill me?!"_

The girl snapped her head up, eyes still glowing red. She looked absolutely furious.

"_YOU DARED TO HARM MY GRANDCHILD!! HE MAY NOT HAVE PHYSICAL FORM AND HE MAY NOT HAVE THE ATTRACTIONS YOU DEEM FIT, BUT HE'S MY FAMILY AND YOU TRIED TO KILL HIM!!"_

"_What I did does not justify what you did in any way!"_

The fire circling around him suddenly became a whip, as he sent it to slash her across her back, evicting another scream.

"_I am the Avatar! You are a worthless deathbender! I am better than you, and you deserve no life! You will stay here, forever, never to be reborn again to rein your sins amongst my reincarnations! Your title shall be stripped from any and all records, never to be seen or heard of, and you and your 'family' will never see the light again!!"_

The girl started laughing again, moving around into a bow of mock-respect, her intent on insulting him.

"_I am _humbled_ by your mercy, oh great and powerful Avatar, though, your knowledge of me is completely stunted. I am not _'reborn'_ or _'reincarnated'_ as you are. I just simply_ never die."

The man screamed with rage before sending a rush of water towards her, completely covering her and the chains, before he froze them solid, encasing her in a sheet of ice, before he sealed half of the room with a wall of thick ice. Though her head was down, you could still see her smirk perfectly.

As the image faded away into the swamp, all they could hear was the laughing of the Avatar before he screamed as the image of a shadow and four children appeared in the block of ice.

The girl child said one last thing before the image faded away. Zuko recognized the voice as the girl that was humming.

"_She'll be rescued. A good Avatar will rescue her. Your efforts will be in vain. You'll see."_


End file.
